Asim Ali has completed all requirements for a Ph.D. (but the dissertation) in Political Science from Western University (Canada). His doctoral thesis, in-progress, is on the international political economy of Sovereign Wealth Funds. Asim earned a M.A. degree in International Commerce and Policy from the School of Public Policy at George Mason University (USA) and received another M.A. degree in Political Science from Waterloo University (Canada).

Besides holding a research appointment as a SWFI Affiliate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University (USA), Asim is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at King's University College, Western University, where he teaches in the areas of International Relations/International Political Economy and Comparative Politics of Development and Developing Countries. Earlier, Asim held lectureships at Western University in the Departments of Political Science and History.

Outside of academia, Asim is a Contributing Analyst at Wikistrat, a cutting-edge geopolitical consultancy that applies a global crowd-sourcing methodology to analyze politics.

Asim's current research interests center on the intersection between the domestic political-economic imperatives and foreign investment patterns of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) from Asia and the Persian Gulf/Middle East. He has presented at numerous academic conferences across North America on the subject of SWFs and has contributed in the scholarly and operational endeavors of the SWFI program at the Fletcher School.

His previous research experiences include working at the Centre for International Governance and Innovation (CIGI), in Waterloo, Ontario, where he was a Balsillie Fellow; the Council on Foreign Relations (Washington Offices), Middle East Forum; the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), South Asia Program; and the Pakistan Embassy (Washington DC), under the then-Pakistan's eminent ambassador, Dr. Maleeha Lodhi. He has extensive experience in the policy arena, after having worked on energy security, institutional development and governance, and trade and investment issues in the Middle East and Asia.

His scholarly work has appeared in journals such as World Economics. Asim has also written policy papers for the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies' Strategic Datalink and the CSIS Monitor, besides contributing in a joint USAID-World Bank- CSIS report on economic development in Bangladesh. Additionally, he has contributed op-ed pieces for the Washington Times, Baltimore-Sun, Tribune Express, the NEWS International, Dawn, and the Record.